It’s no secret that Leonardo DiCaprio has been slighted many times when it comes to actually winning an Academy Award, though we all know he’s been nominated many times. His facial reaction after losing to Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club in 2014 was perhaps the last straw for DiCaprio, who probably made a silent vow to himself never to lose again.
Thus, the news of the latest role he has “in mind” is rather appropriate. Not only is DiCaprio hedging his bets by producing The Crowded Room, he’s also making himself irresistible to the Academy by playing the lead, Billy Milligan, a man with 24 personalities who became the first person in legal history to evade rape charges and subsequent conviction due to his Dissociative Identity Disorder.
One imagines DiCaprio will simply combine all the characters he’s played in the past, from Jack Dawson in Titanic to Calvin J. Candie in Django Unchained. Whatever his planned method, it’s quite clear that he doesn’t aim to lose at the 2016 Oscars. And if he does, well, surely Martin Scorsese can give him a pep talk about how long it takes to win.
